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U.S. travel restrictions on sex workers inhibit effective HIV/AIDS response

"[D]isappointingly, one group that will be absent [from the XIX International AIDS Conference next week] due to U.S. travel restrictions is sex workers," a Lancet editorial states.

21 Jul 2012

FDA's approval of Kyprolis offers hope to myeloma patients, says IMF

The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) - the oldest and largest foundation dedicated to improving the life and care of myeloma patients - says today's Food and Drug Administration approval of Onyx's Kyprolis (carfilzomib) offers hope to myeloma patients who have run out of options when available therapies have stopped working.

21 Jul 2012

State roundup: Texas Medicaid fraud probes use controversial tool

When it comes to finding cost savings in the state's unwieldy Medicaid program, the Health and Human Services Commission's Office of Inspector General gets high marks. … But OIG's dollar-recovery strategy -- which includes an increased reliance on a rule that allows investigators to freeze financing for any health provider accused of overbilling -- has enraged doctors, dentists and other providers who treat Medicaid patients.

21 Jul 2012

Antibody detects progenitor cells in cancers and cirrhosis of liver

The study, published in the journal Stem Cell, adds to our understanding of the role of stem and next stage progenitor cells in tissue regeneration and in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

21 Jul 2012

DPC in charge of preparing Haiti for natural disasters becomes a success story

Not all stories associated with natural disasters in Haiti are filled with tales of gloom and doom. Barely two years following the catastrophic earthquake that leveled portions of Port-au-Prince, the Civil Protection Agency (DPC) in charge of preparing Haiti for natural disasters, has become a success story that is now being examined as a role model for other disaster prone nations.

21 Jul 2012

When checks and balances in the pharmaceutical marketplace fall short

The Washington Post explores how a trio of very expensive anemia drugs became "superstars" in the marketplace. Also, The Wall Street Journal tracks the process by which certain fake cancer drugs found their way into the United States.

21 Jul 2012

Study identifies genetic markers that influence protein involved in regulating oestrogen, testosterone levels

A research study led by the Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Exeter, and Boston University School of Medicine, in collaboration with a global consortium, has identified genetic markers that influence a protein involved in regulating oestrogen and testosterone levels in the bloodstream.

21 Jul 2012

Menu labeling at chain restaurants has some benefits

The recent Supreme Court decision on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has cleared the way for national requirements about posting nutritional information at chain restaurants. Listing calories, fat content, and sodium levels of menu items at the point of purchase has been promoted as a way to address the obesity epidemic.

21 Jul 2012

Domestic PEPFAR program would increase coordination, improve AIDS response in U.S.

"Urban America continues to suffer high rates of HIV despite successes of antiretroviral treatment that can suppress the virus, decrease transmission, prevent progression to AIDS, and lower death rates," Gregory Pappas, senior deputy director of the Washington, D.C., Department of Health's HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration (HAHSTA), writes in a Washington Blade opinion piece.

21 Jul 2012

Training EMS to interpret ECGs can expedite treatment for severe heart attacks

A new program that trains emergency medical service technicians (EMS) to read electrocardiograms so that they can evaluate patients with chest pain, and expedite treatment for the severe heart condition known as ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a serious form of heart attack, has excellent results and should become the standard of care, according to two studies published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

21 Jul 2012

FDA grants accelerated approval for Kyprolis to treat multiple myeloma

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that its licensee, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, received accelerated approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Kyprolis (carfilzomib) for Injection, a proteasome inhibitor indicated for the treatment of patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least two prior therapies, including bortezomib and an immunomodulatory agent, and have demonstrated disease progression on or within 60 days of completion of the last therapy.

21 Jul 2012

Research roundup: Gastric bypass costs, paying for psychotherapy

Health Expenditures Among High-Risk Patients After Gastric Bypass and Matched Controls -- A few studies have shown that bariatric surgery can help reduce health care spending by obese patients, particularly those with conditions such as diabetes. This latest study looked at 847 patients who received bariatric surgery through the Veterans Affairs medical system. Inpatient and outpatient spending both before and after surgery were compared to 847 obese patients who did not have the operation.

21 Jul 2012

Axial lumbar interbody fusion for two spinal levels may not be effective

Surgeons from the Instituto de Patologia da Coluna in Sao Paulo, Brazil have found that an innovative minimally invasive surgical procedure performed to achieve two-level axial lumbar interbody fusion produced immediate successful results, but within 2 years complications set in, making the procedure far less desirable.

21 Jul 2012

2-D models may often give researchers misleading results

Imagine millions of cancer cells organized in thousands of small divots. Hit these cells with drugs and when some cells die, you have a candidate for a cancer drug. But a review published this week in the journal Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery argues that these 2D models in fact offer very little information about a potential drug's effects in the body and may often give researchers misleading results.

21 Jul 2012

HHS issues final rule on essential health benefits data collection

Meanwhile, new research from the Center for Studying Health System Change indicates that more small businesses may be self-insuring -- a step that will reduce their participation in the health law's insurance exchanges.

21 Jul 2012

EMA CHMP issues positive opinion for conditional approval of brentuximab vedotin for lymphoma

Millennium: The Takeda Oncology Company and, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use of the European Medicines Agency has issued a positive opinion for conditional approval of brentuximab vedotin for two indications.

21 Jul 2012

Second Sight’s Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System scheduled for FDA panel review

Second Sight Medical Products Inc., the world's leading developer and manufacturer of retinal prostheses, today announced that a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Ophthalmic Devices Advisory Panel has been scheduled to review the data presented in the company's Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE) market approval application for its Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System (Argus II prosthesis) on September 28, 2012 in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

21 Jul 2012

Details emerge regarding personalities involved in FDA flap

An FDA scientist whose complaints about the agency's approval process for medical devices led to a controversial email monitoring program had filed lawsuits against two hospitals where he worked and also sued a dozen medical-device companies.

21 Jul 2012

In Florida, Obama attacks Romney on Medicare plan

Drawing on traditional Democratic campaign themes, President Barack Obama criticized GOP plans to transform Medicare into a "voucher program" and to repeal the 2010 health law.

21 Jul 2012

Neuroscience 2012 annual meeting to take place from Oct. 13-17

Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, is the world's largest source of emerging news on brain science and health. Learn how the brain works and new developments on a range of topics: aging, language, brain injury, parenting, and mental illness, among others. More than 16,000 new discoveries will be presented, with 30,000 attendees from around the world.

21 Jul 2012